so much love

The little grandson was here for an hour yesterday. Katie took me and Jeff and Alex out for brekky and then needed to update her car insurance and that was an hour of playing music and getting tube shots on Xenon and dancing in the kitchen.

Buster hides when Alex comes.

He’s a fun kid.

email circulated by a world famous scientist

Thanks to me exchanging emails with Carolyn Porco back when I was still stanning for Unitarianism, I got this this am. It is actually from a friend of hers.

Subject: What I am doing for the upcoming COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic

Dear Colleagues, as some of you may recall, when I was a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego, I was one of the first molecular virologists in the world to work on coronaviruses (the 1970s). I was the first to demonstrate the number of genes the virus contained. Since then, I have kept up with the coronavirus field and its multiple clinical transfers into the human population (e.g., SARS, MERS), from different animal sources. The current projections for its expansion in the US are only probable, due to continued insufficient worldwide data, but it is most likely to be widespread in the US by mid to late March and April.

Here is what I have done and the precautions that I take and will take. These are the same precautions I currently use during our influenza seasons, except for the mask and gloves.:

1) NO HANDSHAKING! Use a fist bump, slight bow, elbow bump, etc.

2) Use ONLY your knuckle to touch light switches. elevator buttons, etc.. Lift the gasoline dispenser with a paper towel or use a disposable glove.

3) Open doors with your closed fist or hip – do not grasp the handle with your hand, unless there is no other way to open the door. Especially important on bathroom and post office/commercial doors.

4) Use disinfectant wipes at the stores when they are available, including wiping the handle and child seat in grocery carts.

5) Wash your hands with soap for 10-20 seconds and/or use a greater than 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer whenever you return home from ANY activity that involves locations where other people have been.

6) Keep a bottle of sanitizer available at each of your home’s entrances. AND in your car for use after getting gas or touching other contaminated objects when you can’t immediately wash your hands.

7) If possible, cough or sneeze into a disposable tissue and discard. Use your elbow only if you have to. The clothing on your elbow will contain infectious virus that can be passed on for up to a week or more!

What I have stocked in preparation for the pandemic spread to the US:

1) Latex or nitrile latex disposable gloves for use when going shopping, using the gasoline pump, and all other outside activity when you come in contact with contaminated areas.

Note: This virus is spread in large droplets by coughing and sneezing. This means that the air will not infect you! BUT all the surfaces where these droplets land are infectious for about a week on average – everything that is associated with infected people will be contaminated and potentially infectious. The virus is on surfaces and you will not be infected unless your unprotected face is directly coughed or sneezed upon.  This virus only has cell receptors for lung cells (it only infects your lungs) The only way for the virus to infect you is through your nose or mouth via your hands or an infected cough or sneeze onto or into your nose or mouth. >>>>>>> OKAY THIS WAS THE POINT I SAID hunh

Because this disease has cell receptors all over your body, as previously mentioned in this blog. HOWEVER he’s right that it can only infect you by getting into your respiratory system, usually by you transferring live virus to your facial mucosa. Once it gets in you, it can hurt your heart and your circulatory system surfaces as well.

2) Stock up now with disposable surgical masks and use them to prevent you from touching your nose and/or mouth (We touch our nose/mouth 90X/day without knowing it!). This is the only way this virus can infect you – it is lung-specific. The mask will not prevent the virus in a direct sneeze from getting into your nose or mouth – it is only to keep you from touching your nose or mouth.

3) Stock up now with hand sanitizers and latex/nitrile gloves (get the appropriate sizes for your family). The hand sanitizers must be alcohol-based and greater than 60% alcohol to be effective.

4) Stock up now with zinc lozenges. These lozenges have been proven to be effective in blocking coronavirus (and most other viruses) from multiplying in your throat and nasopharynx. Use as directed several times each day when you begin to feel ANY “cold-like” symptoms beginning. It is best to lie down and let the lozenge dissolve in the back of your throat and nasopharynx. Cold-Eeze lozenges is one brand available, but there are other brands available.

I, as many others do, hope that this pandemic will be reasonably contained, BUT I personally do not think it will be. Humans have never seen this snake-associated virus before and have no internal defense against it. Tremendous worldwide efforts are being made to understand the molecular and clinical virology of this virus. Unbelievable molecular knowledge about the genomics, structure, and virulence of this virus has already been achieved. BUT, there will be NO drugs or vaccines available this year to protect us or limit the infection within us. Only symptomatic support is available. I hope these personal thoughts will be helpful during this potentially catastrophic pandemic. You are welcome to share this email.

Good luck to all of us!

James Robb, MD FCAP

roundup for Thursday

Throwback Thursday picture:

 

 

Roberta on Melody Maid, 1949. south end of barnyard; the circular water trough is downslope and right.

mOm has consumed by latest little puff pastry of a fan fic story and enjoyed it, so there. I cannot bear touching or looking at UPSUN right now so I won’t.  This is a temporary state of affairs.

Lovely walk in the neighbourhood yesterday with Paul; came home and fed him Flower Bread (Balkan style pullapart rolls) and lentil soup, which he removed entirely.

Here’s Helen Branswell on our plague year.

Jesus Fucking Christ, said Jesus Fucking Christ, looking down from heaven at the Korean woman who went to church TWICE AFTER HER DOCTORS TOLD HER TO BE TESTED FOR CORONAVIRUS

Discovery of Witches has been renewed for two more seasons YAH but no release date BOO and of course the whole world will be up in the air as COVID does its thing

Hannah Gadsby

Many thanks to Alex for taking me to Hannah Gadsby when her good friend C. couldn’t make it. Told her to make sure Darwin sees “The Compleat Practical Joker” the next time he’s at the fOlks in Victoria.

If you haven’t seen Nanette, her earlier show which took the internet by storm, I’d advise it, but pack tissues.

Funny fandom note; Misha Collins, whose graceful corpus (along with the rest of the Company of Mad Bad Boys in Plaid from Supernatural) has inspired hundreds of thousands of words of smut’n’otherstuff from YersTruly, mentioned yesterday morning on social media that he’d rewatched Nanette with tears rolling down his face and then about two hours later Alex texts with hey wanna see Hannah Gadsby, and I thought ‘that’s interesting, I thought I was going to the Heritage Grill for the Jam tonight but guess not!’

It was a fantastic show. Superlatively intellectual, emotional and FUNNY on all cylinders.

She doesn’t like antivaxxers. SHE ADDRESSED THEM DIRECTLY and it was SOMETHING I ASSURE YOU

Her little rip through art history, much as in the previous show, was fucking hilarious.

Alex and I didn’t spend longer than two minutes at any point during the show without laughing. HARD VERY HARD XQUUEEEEZE ME

Alex and I both contacted each other after the show to ensure we got home.

Went to see a feminist comedian…. yeah

two movies, two fan pics and a song

Come As You Are – three disabled guys go on a road trip to a brothel in Montreal with Gabourey Sidibe as the driver. Jeff and I laughed our asses off. It tries to speak to the difficult truths about autonomy and pleasure and love without talking down to disabled people and for the most part succeeds. There are a number of interesting twists on the trope of the magical Black woman, most of which land deftly, but you can tell white people, non disabled. wrote it. Also Jeff called one of the main plot points about thirty seconds into the road trip so full marks for observation. Cried at the end so hard the top of my head nearly caved in, full marks to me for being a drip.

(Several months later read what disabled people said about the movie, and HOO BOY did I drop the ball on not seeing the ableism here….) Please read this.

First Love – Funny, horrifying, over-the-top, stylish and touching all at once, this ensemble bloodbath with a happy ending is utterly worth seeing just for how fast it moves and the clockwork intricacy of the plotting and fight scenes, and for how it casually integrates the cultural differences of the principals into the action. (Chinese gangs vs Japanese cops vs. Yakuza vs. extremely confused but survival-oriented lower-class civilians.) One of the characters is floridly psychotic and hallucinating due to drug toxicity for a good chunk of the movie which just adds to the ‘not knowing what the fuck is going to happen next’ thrill ride of it all.

I’ve added a tag to the song “I’m going to have to ask the smart people to leave”.

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AU Castiel with suit and tats

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AU Dean Winchester with piercings and tats. Art available on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/JackieDeeArt

I am not a fan of age regressed fan pics for these two actors (Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles) so these pics make me very happy.

The Correction does her thing

So, this morning, Coronavirus. 80k infected and 2.5k dead, approx, as of this date.

Holy shit, the lies and propaganda about COVID-19 on line – I’m doing a skip-dive this am – are horrifying. Once again, there is zero evidence that the Chinese government made the virus. They’d be releasing it in the Uighur camps if that was true, come on dear people think.

Also, apparently abandoned babies are appearing in orphanages because their parents haven’t been paid since January and they’re being evicted – there was a heartwrenching picture with a letter indicating that the parents would be back to collect the kid when they had a home again. ABSOLUTELY no idea if it’s true, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

there are reports of entire families (all over 50 yoa) perishing within a fortnight, also reports that there’s no systematized autopsies of the dead so we’re not getting a clear idea of what aspect of the virus procession through the body is actually killing people which given that it can kill you more than one way, which would affect treatment protocols, is just one more thing that CDCs in the rest of the world are going to have to figure out, because China’s a little busy right now. The ACE2 receptor is the main target in the human body but that means it can attack lungs, organ linings (endothelium), kidneys, blood vessels and the heart. Death by this organism can masquerade as a heart attack or a fatal asthma attack and you won’t know without an autopsy, so current cause of death info is bullshit and we need to poke the Chinese to do better

and to top it all off you’ll be way more susceptible to any lung bug at all for months afterward if you do get it so just imagine the first groups of people who survive COVID-19 only to die from regular flu and how angry their families will be GET YOUR FLU SHOT

A THREAD.

millennial prayer

Biscotti batch 3 in oven, this will be AWESOME

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https://www.chickenscratch.co.uk/shop/the-millennial-prayer is where to buy this AWESOME MERCH PLEASE ensure that Keith sees this I’m sure he’ll be amused this is from @wangleberry on twitter and she lettered this after something her ‘idiot husband’ (WRONG) said.

If Phyllis was still alive I TOTES WOULD GET THIS FOR HER

horror

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‘Black people in horror’ mini posters. No Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead lead) tho.

Francesco Francavilla is the artist
@f_francavilla on twitter
http://www.francescofrancavilla.com/ online
check out his OBK frankenstein poster live on the front page now

next fawm thing

I got to go swimming with Alex today, and thankful I am to have family close but not too close to cloy

 

new song called ???

I’m going to have to ask
the smart people to leave
why should you listen to this crap
I’m going to sing some stuff
like you would not believe
You’ve been warned, it’s a trap
Why would you want to listen to anything silly
Like me attempting to sing about an armadillo’s will he, won’t he
I’m going to have to ask
the smart people to leave

and when they do
we’ll all have fun

and then some more
once we’ve begun
the drugs alone must weigh
weigh half at least a ton
so if the cops show
better run

 

gratitude

I was going to do a blast about how I hate everything but I decided to do a gratitude list instead:

Drinking the last of the tea Jeri-Lynn and the concom gave to me for Conflikt. It’s called Berry Juice, and it’s delicious, from Friday Afternoon Teas.

Biscotti is in the oven; I just turned it off and now it will continue to get to that impeccable golden brown which just makes life good.

I am still very very glad I have a weighted blanket and I sleep with it every night unless I’m away from home.

I can have a hot bath or shower any time I want.

I have wonderful friends and family.

I am editing.

membrane

the code seems quite permeable

one would think, granted ‘one’, granted ‘thought’

granted conditions for the code to bloom and flex

it was meant to be so

tripping so

trippingly

but all roads lead to a god with no persona

science

and ain’t that a bore

we fill the cracks in the code with sounds

we stuff the space with photons

and it doesn’t matter

we ignored moral philosophy

and the greatest minds on earth

got their nipples licked by capital

and it was all over